Cape Town – Action SA president, Herman Mashaba’s biography, penned by Prince Mashele, has been pulled from the shelves due to “material non-disclosure and breach of trust” after it was revealed that Mashaba had funded the publishing of the book to the tune of R12.5 million.
In a statement on Monday, ActionSA chairperson Michael Beaumont provided “clarification” on the matter of The Outsider – the biography authored by Mashele about Mashaba’s life and political experience.
Jonathan Ball Publishers said they were unaware of the financing agreement.
“Following the disclosure that Herman Mashaba had funded the writing of a biography about him by Prince Mashele, as confirmed by Mashaba in a media release, Jonathan Ball Publishers is left with no option but to withdraw ‘The Outsider’ from the market. Jonathan Ball Publishers was unaware of any funding agreement between Mashele and Mashaba when we signed a publishing agreement with Mashele in 2022.
“We view this as a material non-disclosure on the part of the author and as a breach of trust. We also want to note that the contract Mashaba quotes from in his statement is from 2019 and is not the contract that was signed between Mashele and Jonathan Ball Publishers,” the statement read.
Action SA said they had noted “various media reports which have incorrectly sought to make this matter about the integrity of Mashaba”.
Beaumont said that the book was not an ActionSA project and was initiated two years before ActionSA was launched while Mashaba was still the mayor of Johannesburg.
“The project involved a three-year in-depth research exercise into Mashaba’s life. A plan to finance the book was presented by Mashele to Mashaba in October 2018 but when it became clear that raising the funds would be challenging, Mashaba agreed to provide the initial finance of R12.5m in his personal capacity.
“A contract was signed in March 2019 which provided explicit editorial control of content to the author, Mashele. Mashaba was to provide access for interviews and was availed with manuscripts from time to time to comment on factual accuracy. Mashaba was forthcoming about his role in reviewing the manuscript for accuracy at the recent launch of the book.
“The following is an excerpt of the signed contract: ‘While the Subject (Mashaba) shall be entitled to make suggestions regarding the inclusion of certain important events, facts or such other details, the Author shall be the ultimate owner of the contents of the Biography’.”
Beaumont said it should be clarified that Mashaba had no prior sight of the cover of the book and specifically the sub-title ‘An unauthorised biography of Herman Mashaba’.
“This was agreed between Mashele and the publishers. ActionSA cannot comment on Mashele’s dealings with the publisher, or what he did or did not disclose to them, as neither ActionSA nor Mashaba were involved in these discussions.”
Cape Times